ARCHIVED - President Valcárcel radio interview about Corvera airport

The regional president insists that negotiations are going “quite well”

This week there has again been little in the way of real news relating to the potential opening date of Murcia’s Corvera airport, other than speculation in the media that negotiations are progressing well between the regional government and its former concessionary.

Ramón Luis Valcárcel, the president of the Region of Murcia, confirmed last week that he would be relinquishing his position as president of the region in the Spring, leading to a flurry of speculation about not only who will be his successor, but who will inherit the delicate issue of the unopened regional airport.

Unfortunately for Murcia, the Corvera airport project is starting to be viewed by the national media as being along the same lines as the “ghost” airport at Castellón, and the president found himself on the ropes this week when a radio interviewer pushed the point about the future of the yet unopened regional airport. President Valcárcel again stated that negotiations with Aeromur to ensure that the new airport in Corvera finally opens are going “quite well”, and that he hopes for an agreement “in the next few months.”

Sr Valcárcel insisted once more that the airport will not be paid for by the inhabitants of the Region, on the grounds that if an agreement is reached then it will be Aeromur who takes on the 200-million-euro loan, freeing the government of the need to execute its guarantee on the loan capital.

When asked about the frequently made comparisons between the facility at Corvera and the “ghost airport” of Castellón, Sr Valcárcel asserted that the one crucial difference is that Corvera is already guaranteed a minimum of a million passengers per year. These are those who will be inherited from San Javier airport when it closes down, and Corvera will have the capacity to add to that figure because, the president says, it will not be operating on a limited timetable as San Javier does (due to its shared used with the Air Force academy of San Javier)

At the moment there has been no confirmation that Aena have signed the document of intent to close san Javier , or that the financing has yet been agreed to compensate Aena for the closure, an issue which has been a sticking point for the last 2 years, and one of the major reasons, according to previous statements made by the former concessionary, why the new airport at Corvera had not been opened within the timescale specified in the agreement made between the regional government and Aeromur before the contract was rescinded.

Historic articles, Corvera airport
Image: All ready and waiting. Image of completed airport taken in August of 2011. Copyright Murcia Today